Day 223 - Spelunking...

...It's fun to say - more fun to do. The limestone karsts (there's a scrabble word for you) around Vang Vieng are pockmarked with caves of all shapes and sizes. Most are within 6km of our guesthouse, so today we rented mountain bikes and went bumping along through the woods and across dry rice paddies in search or underground adventure.

None of the caves are developed in the way of Laurey Caverns with lights and walkways. At each one, you pay 10,000kip (about $1) for an entrance ticket, headlamp (if you do not have your own), and guide if there is any chance of your becoming lost.

The first cave we stopped at, Tiger Cave, we did need a guide for, if only to show us how to wriggle through the entrances top the caverns. This one is not for the large, claustrophobic, or acrophobic (fear of heights). The adventure begins by scrambling up a steep narrow trail to the cave mouth, which is framed by stalagmites and stalactites like tigers' teeth. Once in, one soon must squeeze through a small hole, cross a rickety bamboo bridge over a dark, bottomless chasm, and and climb a ladder to another narrow gap (I barely fit). Scariest was where we had to scale smooth limestone formations on the far end of the bamboo bridge. Read: climb rocks with no hand or footholds over a chasm with only a few bamboo rods between self and horrible splatty death. It was grand fun.

We followed Tiger Cave with another cave that promised a pool where one could swim. Bolstered by our success in Tiger Cave, we opted to do this one solo, with only our little reading headlamps for light. They worked a charm, but the ratio of light to great, dark cave was definitely in cave's favour.

Unfortunately, being dry season, the pool was all dried up, though it left behind a sea of lovely red mud. Naturally 'war painting' was inevitable, sending the Lao girls at the entrance into fits of giggles when we emerged back into daylight.

We pedaled furiously back across the paddies to return our bikes in time to shower and be ready for sunset. Everyday we have planned to catch the sunset from our back door, and every day have been elsewhere. Today we made it.

Before our caving adventure, we spent some time in town itself. Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world. During the 'Secret War' roughly a half ton of bombs was dropped for every man, woman, and child living in Laos. Probably no propaganda for the Pathet Lao was more successful than the US bombing runs in its bid to 'make the world safe for democracy'. Many of the millions of tons of ammo remain undetonated and are a leading cause of injury and fatalities in some provinces. Even in peaceful Vang Vieng, the beginning and end of bridge are decorated with old bomb casings.

The bridge itself is a toll bridge. I imagine they turn quite a tidy profit in the rainy season when the river runs high. In the dry season however, naked children and broke backpackers can find it much more economical just to wade.